Nav
index
Stuff
photogallery
flash
science
mail
articles
pranks
Interact
forum
Elsewhere
links
Vanity
credits
|
How to Build an H-Bomb
Making and owning an H-bomb is the kind of challenge real Americans
seek. Who wants to be a passive victim of nuclear war when, with a little
effort, you can be an active participant? Bomb shelters are for losers.
Who wants to huddle together underground eating canned Spam? Winners want
to push the button themselves. Making your own H-bomb is a big step in
nuclear assertiveness training -- it's called Taking Charge. We're sure
you'll enjoy the risks and the heady thrill of playing nuclear chicken.
Introduction
When the Feds clamped down on The Progressive magazine for attempting
to publish an article on the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb, it piqued
our curiosity. Was it really true that atomic and hydrogen bomb technology
was so simple you could build an H-bomb in your own kitchen? Seven Days
decided to find out. Food editor Barbara Ehrenreich, investigative reporter
Peter Biskind, Photographer Jane Melnick and nuclear scientist Michio Kaku
were given three days to cook up a workable H-bomb. They did and we have
decided to share their culinary secrets with you.
Not that Seven Days supports nuclear terrorism. We don't. We
would prefer to die slowly from familiar poisons like low-level radiation,
microwaves, DDT, DBCP, aflatoxins, PBBs, PBCs, or food dyes, rather than
unexpectedly, say as hostage to a Latvian nationalist brandishing a homemade
bomb. In our view the real terrorists are the governments, American, Soviet,
French, Chinese, and British, that are hoarding H-bombs for their own use,
and worse still, those governments (U.S., French and German) that are eagerly
peddling advanced nuclear technology to countries like South Africa, Brazil,
and Argentina so that they can make their own bombs. When these bombs are
used, and they will be, it will be the world's big-time nuclear peddlers,
along with corporate suppliers like General Electric, Westinghouse, and
Gulf Oil, that we can thank for it. Gagging The Progressive will
do no more for national security than backyard bomb shelters because like
it or not the news is out. The heart of the successful H-bomb is the successful
A-bomb. Once you've got your A-bombs made the rest if frosting on the cake.
All you have to do is set them up so that when they detonate they'll start
off a hydrogen-fusion reaction.
|
Part 1: Making Your Bomb
Step 1: Getting the Ingredients
Uranium is the basic ingredient of the A-bomb. When a uranium atom's
nucleus splits apart, it releases a tremendous amount of energy (for its
size), and it emits neutrons which go on to split other nearby uranium
nuclei, releasing more energy, in what is called a 'chain reaction'. (When
atoms split, matter is converted into energy according to Einstein's equation
E=MC2. What better way to mark his birthday than with your own
atomic fireworks?)
There are two kinds (isotopes) of uranium: the rare U-235, used in
bombs, and the more common, heavier, but useless U-238. Natural uranium
contains less than 1 percent U-235 and in order to be usable in bombs it
has to be "enriched" to 90 percent U-235 and only 10 percent U-238. Plutonium-239
can also be used in bombs as a substitute for U-235. Ten pounds of U-235
(or slightly less plutonium) is all that is necessary for a bomb. Less
than ten pounds won't give you a critical mass. So purifying or enriching
naturally occurring uranium is likely to be your first big hurdle. It is
infinitely easy to steal ready-to-use enriched uranium or plutonium than
to enrich some yourself. And stealing uranium is not as hard as it sounds.
There are at least three sources of enriched uranium or plutonium...
Enriched uranium is manufactured at a gaseous diffusion plant in Portsmouth,
Ohio. From there it is shipped in 10 liter bottles by airplane and trucks
to conversion plants that turn it into uranium oxide or uranium metal.
Each 10 liter bottle contains 7 kilograms of U-235, and there are 20 bottles
to a typical shipment. Conversion facilities exist at Hematite, Missouri;
Apollo, Pennsylvania; and Erwin, Tennessee. The Kerr-McGee plant at Crescent
Oklahoma -- where Karen Silkwood worked -- was a conversion plant that
"lost" 40 lbs of plutonium. Enriched uranium can be stolen from these plants
or from fuel-fabricating plants like those in New Haven, San Diego; or
Lynchburg, Virginia. (A former Kerr-McGee supervisor, James V. Smith, when
asked at the Silkwood trial if there were any security precautions at the
plant to prevent theft, testified that 'There were none of any kind, no
guards, no fences, no nothing.')
Plutonium can be obtained from places like United Nuclear in Pawling,
New York; Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, Tennessee; General Electric in
Pleasanton, California; Westinghouse in Cheswick, Pennsylvania; Nuclear
Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) in Leechburg, Pennsylvania;
and plants in Hanfford, Washington and Morris, Illinois. According to Rolling
Stone magazine the Israelis were involved in the theft of plutonium
from NUMEC.
Finally you can steal enriched uranium or plutonium while it's en-route
from conversion plants to fuel fabricating plants. It is usually transported
(by air or truck) in the form of uranium oxide, a brownish powder resembling
instant coffee, or as a metal, coming in small chunks called "broken buttons."
Both forms are shipped in small cans stacked in 5-inch cylinders braced
with welded struts in the center of ordinary 55 gallon steel drums. The
drums weigh about 100 pounds and are clearly marked "Fissible Material"
or "Danger, Plutonium." A typical shipment might go from the enrichment
plant at Portsmouth, Ohio to the conversion plant in Hematite Missouri
then to Kansas City by truck where it would be flown to Los Angeles and
then trucked down to the General Atomic plant in San Diego. The plans for
the General Atomic plant are on file at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
reading room at 1717 H Street NW Washington. A Xerox machine is provided
for the convenience of the public.
If you can't get hold of any enriched uranium you'll have to settle
for commercial grade (20 percent U-235). This can be stolen from university
reactors of a type called TRIGA Mark II, where security is even more casual
than at commercial plants.
If stealing uranium seems too tacky you can buy it. Unenriched uranium
is available at any chemical supply house for $23 a pound. Commercial grade
(3 to 20 percent enriched) is available for $40 a pound from Gulf Atomic.
You'll have to enrich it further yourself. Quite frankly this can be something
of a pain in the ass. You'll need to start with a little more than 50 pounds
of commercial-grade uranium. (It's only 20 percent U-235 at best, and you
need 10 pounds of U-235 so... ) But with a little kitchen-table chemistry
you'll be able to convert the solid uranium oxide you've purchased into
a liquid form. Once you've done that, you'll be able to separate the U-235
that you'll need from the U-238.
First pour a few gallons of concentrated hydrofluoric acid into your
uranium oxide, converting it to uranium tetrafluoride. (Safety
note: Concentrated hydrofluoric acid is so corrosive that it will eat its
way through glass, so store it only in plastic. Used 1-gallon plastic milk
containers will do.) Now you have to convert your uranium tetrafluoride
to uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous form of uranium, which is convenient
for separating out the isotope U-235 from U-238.
To get the hexafluoride form, bubble fluorine gas into your container
of uranium tetrafluoride. Fluorine is available in pressurized tanks from
chemical-supply firms. Be careful how you use it though because fluorine
is several times more deadly than chlorine, the classic World War I poison
gas. Chemists recommend that you carry out this step under a stove hood
(the kind used to remove unpleasant cooking odors).
If you've done your chemistry right you should now have a generous
supply of uranium hexafluoride ready for enriching. In the old horse-and-buggy
days of A-bomb manufacture the enrichment was carried out by passing the
uranium hexafluoride through hundreds of miles of pipes, tubes, and membranes,
until the U-235 was eventually separated from the U-238. This gaseous-diffusion
process, as it was called is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.
Gaseous-diffusion plants cover hundreds of acres and cost in the neighborhood
of $2-billion each. So forget it. There are easier, and cheaper, ways to
enrich your uranium.
First transform the gas into a liquid by subjecting it to pressure.
You can use a bicycle pump for this. Then make a simple home centrifuge.
Fill a standard-size bucket one-quarter full of liquid uranium hexafluoride.
Attach a six-foot rope to the bucket handle. Now swing the rope (and attached
bucket) around your head as fast as possible. Keep this up for about 45
minutes. Slow down gradually, and very gently put the bucket on the floor.
The U-235, which is lighter, will have risen to the top, where it can be
skimmed off like cream. Repeat this step until you have the required 10
pounds of uranium. (Safety note: Don't put all your
enriched uranium hexafluoride in one bucket. Use at least two or three
buckets and keep them in separate corners of the room. This will prevent
the premature build-up of a critical mass.)
Now it's time to convert your enriched uranium back to metal form.
This is easily enough accomplished by spooning several ladlefuls of calcium
(available in tablet form from your drugstore) into each bucket of uranium.
The calcium will react with the uranium hexafluoride to produce calcium
fluoride, a colorless salt which can be easily be separated from your pure
enriched uranium metal.
A few precautions:
-
While uranium is not dangerously radioactive in the amounts you'll be handling,
if you plan to make more than one bomb it might be wise to wear gloves
and a lead apron, the kind you can buy in dental supply stores.
-
Plutonium is one of the most toxic substances known. If inhaled, a thousandth
of a gram can cause massive fibrosis of the lungs, a painful way to go.
Even a millionth of a gram in the lungs will cause cancer. If eaten plutonium
is metabolized like calcium. It goes straight to the bones where it gives
out alpha particles preventing bone marrow from manufacturing red blood
cells. The best way to avoid inhaling plutonium is to hold your breath
while handling it. If this is too difficult wear a mask. To avoid ingesting
plutonium orally follow this simple rule: never make an A-bomb on an empty
stomach.
-
If you find yourself dozing off while you're working, or if you begin to
glow in the dark, it might be wise to take a blood count. Prick your finger
with a sterile pin, place a drop of blood on a microscope slide, cover
it with a cover slip, and examine under a microscope. (Best results are
obtained in the early morning.) When you get leukemia, immature cells are
released into the bloodstream, and usually the number of white cells increases
(though this increase might take almost 2 weeks). Red blood cells look
kind of like donuts (without the hole), and are slightly smaller than the
white cells, each of which has a nucleus. Immature red cells look similar
to white cells (i.e.. slightly larger and have a nucleus). If you have
more than about 1 white cell (including immature ones) to 400 red cells
then start to worry. But, depending upon your plans for the eventual use
of the bomb, a short life expectancy might not be a problem.
|
Step 2: Assembling the A-Bomb
Now that you've acquired the enriched uranium, all that's left is to
assemble your A-bomb. Go find a couple of stainless steel salad bowls.
You also want to separate your 10 pounds of U-235 into two hunks. (Keep
them apart!) The idea is to push each half your uranium into the
inside of a bowl.
Take one hunk of your uranium and beat it into the inside of the first
bowl. Uranium is malleable, like gold, so you should have no trouble hammering
it into the bowl to get a good fit. Take another five-pound hunk of uranium
and fit it into a second stainless steel bowl. These two bowls of U-235
are the "subcritical masses" which, when brought together forcefully, will
provide the critical mass that makes your A-bomb go. Keep them a respectful
distance apart while working because you don't want them to "go critical"
on you... At least not yet.
Now hollow out the body of an old vacuum cleaner and place your two
hemispherical bowls inside, open ends facing each other, no less than seven
inches apart, using masking tape to set them up in position. The reason
for the steel bowls and the vacuum cleaner, in case you're wondering, is
that these help reflect the neutrons back into the uranium for a more efficient
explosion. "A loose neutron is a useless neutron"
as the A-bomb pioneers used to say.
As far as the A-bomb goes, you're almost done. The final problem is
to figure out how to get the two U-235 hemispheres to smash into each other
with sufficient force to set off a truly effective fission reaction. Almost
any type of explosive can be used to drive them together. Gunpowder, for
example, is easily made at home from potassium nitrate, sulfur, and carbon.
Or, you can get some blasting caps or TNT. (Buy them or steal them from
a construction site.) Best of all is C4 plastic explosive. You can mold
it around your bowls, and it's fairly safe to work with. (But, it might
be wise to shape it around an extra salad bowl in another room, and THEN
fit it to your uranium-packed bowls. This is particularly true in winter,
when a stray static electrical charge might induce ignition in the C4.
A responsible bomb maker considers it impolite to accidentally destroy
more of the neighborhood than absolutely necessary.)
Once the explosives are in place all you need to do is hook up a simple
detonation device with a few batteries, a switch, and some wire. Remember
though that it is essential that the two charges -- one on each side of
the casing -- go off simultaneously.
Now put the whole thing in the casing of an old Hoover vacuum cleaner
and you're finished with this part of the process.
The rest is easy.
|
Step 3: Make More A-Bombs Following the Directions
Above
A Word to the Wise About Wastes
After your A-bomb is completed you'll have a pile of moderately fatal
radioactive wastes like U-238. These are not dangerous, but you do
have to get rid of them. You can flush leftovers down the toilet. (Don't
worry about polluting the ocean, there is already so much radioactive waste
there, a few more bucketfuls won't make any waves whatsoever.) If you're
the fastidious type -- the kind who never leaves gum under their seat at
the movies -- you can seal the nasty stuff in coffee cans and bury it in
the backyard, just like Uncle Sam does. If the neighbor kids have a habit
of trampling the lawn, tell them to play over by the waste. You'll soon
find that they're spending most of their time in bed.
|
Going First Class
If you're like us, you're feeling the economic pinch, and you'll want
to make your bomb as inexpensively as possible, consonant of course with
reasonable yield. The recipe we've given is for a budget-pleasing H-bomb,
no frills, no flourishes; it's just a simple 5-megaton bomb, capable of
wiping out the New York metropolitan area, the San Francisco Bay area,
or Boston. But don't forget, your H-bomb will only be as good as the A-bombs
in it.
If you want to spend a little more money you can punch-up your A-bomb
considerably. Instead of centrifuging your uranium by hand, you can buy
a commercial centrifuge. (Fisher Scientific sells one for about $1000.)
You also might want to be fussier about your design. The Hiroshima bomb,
a relatively crude one, only fissioned 1 percent of it's uranium and yielded
only 13 kilotons. In order to fission more of the uranium, the force of
your explosive "trigger" needs to be evenly diffused around the sphere;
the same pressure has to be exerted on every point of the sphere simultaneously.
(It was a technique for producing this sort of simultaneous detonation
by fashioning the explosives into lenses that the government accused Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg of trying to steal).
|
Part 2: Putting Your H-Bomb Together
The heart of the H-bomb is the fusion process. Several A-bombs are
detonated in such a way as to create the extremely high temperature (100
million degrees C) necessary to fuse lithium deuteride (LiD) into helium.
When the lithium nucleus slams into the deuterium nucleus, two helium nuclei
are created, and if this happens to enough deuterium nuclei rapidly enough,
the result is an enormous amount of energy: the energy of the H-bomb. You
don't have to worry about stealing lithium deuteride, it can be purchased
from any chemical-supply house. It costs $1000 a pound. If your budget
won't allow it you can substitute lithium hydride at $40 a pound. You will
need at least 100 pounds. It's a corrosive and toxic powder so be careful.
Place the lithium deuteride or hydride in glass jars and surround it
with four A-bombs in their casings. Attach them to the same detonator so
that they will go off simultaneously. The container for the whole thing
is no problem. They can be placed anywhere: Inside an old stereo console,
a discarded refrigerator, etc...
When the detonator sets off the four A-bombs all eight hemispheres
of fissionable material will slam into each other at the same time creating
four critical masses and four detonations. This will raise the temperature
of the lithium deuteride to 100 million degrees C fast enough (a few billionths
of a second) so that the lithium will not be blown all over the neighborhood
before the nuclei have time to fuse. The result, at least 1000 times the
punch of the puny A-bomb that leveled Hiroshima (20 million tons of TNT
vs. 20 thousand tons.) |
Part 3: What to do With Your Bomb
Now that you have a fully assembled H-bomb housed in an attractive console
of your choice you may be wondering, "What should I do with it?" Every
family will have to answer this question according to its own tastes and
preferences, but you may want to explore some possibilities which have
been successfully pioneered by the American government.
1. Sell Your Bomb and Make a Pile of Money
In these days of rising inflation, increasing unemployment, and an
uncertain economic outlook, few businesses make as much sense as weapons
production. If your career forecast is cloudy, bomb sales may be the only
sure way to avoid the humiliation of receiving welfare, or unemployment.
Regardless of your present income level, a home H-bomb business can be
an invaluable income supplement, and certainly a profitable alternative
to selling Tupperware or pirated Girl Scout cookies.
Unfortunately for the family bomb business, big government has already
cornered a large part of the world market. But this does not mean that
there is a shortage of potential customers. The raid on Entebee was the
Waterloo of hijacking, and many nationalist groups are now on the alert
for new means to get their message across. They'd jump at the chance to
get hold of an H-bomb. Emerging nations which can't ante up enough rice
or sugar to buy themselves a reactor from G.E. or Westinghouse are also
shopping around.
You may wonder about the ethics of selling to nations, or groups, whose
goals you may disapprove of. But here again, take a tip from our government:
forget ideology -- it's cash that counts. And remember, H-bomb sales have
a way of escalating, almost like a chain reaction. Suppose you make a sale
to South Yemen which you believe to be a Soviet puppet. Well within a few
days some discrete inquiries from North Yemen and possibly the Saudis,
the Egyptians and the Ethiopians as well can be expected. Similarly, a
sale to the IRA will generate a sale to the Ulster government; and a sale
to the Tanzanians will bring the Ugandans running, and so forth.
It doesn't matter WHICH side you're on, only how many sides there are.
Don't forget about the possibility of repeat sales to the same customer.
As the experience of both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. has shown, each individual
nation has a potentially infinite need for H-bombs. No customer -- no matter
how small -- can ever have too many.
2. Use Your Bomb at Home
Many families are attracted to the H-bomb simply as a "deterrent."
A discrete sticker on the door or on the living room window saying "This
Home Protected by H-bomb" will discourage IRS investigators, census takers,
and Jehovah's Witnesses. You'll be surprised how fast the crime rate will
go down and property values will go up. And once the news gets out that
you are a home H-bomb owner you'll find that you have unexpected leverage
in neighborhood disputes over everything from parking places and stereo
noise levels to school tax rates. So relax and enjoy the pride and excitement
of home H-bomb ownership!
|
Is It For You?
Let's be honest. The H-bomb isn't for everyone. Frankly there are people
who can't handle it. They break out in hives at the very mention of mega-death,
fallout, or radiation sickness.
The following quiz will help you find out whether you have what it takes
for home H-bomb ownership. If you can answer "yes" to six or more of these
questions, then you're emotionally eligible to join the nuclear club. If
not, a more conventional weapon may be more your cup of tea, try botulism-toxin,
laser rays, or nerve gas.
1. I ignore the demands of others.
2. I subscribe to one or more of the following: Soldier of Fortune,
Hustler, Popular Mechanics, Self.
3. Though I have many interesting acquaintances, I am my own best friend.
4. I know what to say after you say "Hello," but I am seldom interested
in pursuing the conversation.
5. I have seen the movie "The Deer Hunter" more than once.
6. I know that everyone can be a winner if they want to, and I resent
whiners.
7. I own one or more of the following: handgun, video game, trash compactor,
snowmobile.
8. I am convinced that leukemia is psychosomatic.
9. I am aware that most vegetarians are sexually impotent.
10. I have read evidence that solar energy is a Communist conspiracy.
|
Myths About Nuclear War
Ever since the first mushroom cloud over Hiroshima ushered in the atomic
age, a small group of nay-sayers and doom-mongers has lobbied, campaigned
and demonstrated to convince Americans that H-bomb ownership, along with
nuclear power, is dangerous and unhealthy. Using their virtual stranglehold
over the media, these people have tried to discredit everything nuclear
from energy to war. They have vastly overrated the risks of nuclear bombs
and left many Americans feeling demoralized and indecisive; not sure where
the truth lies. Well, here are the myths, and here are the facts.
Myth: After a nuclear exchange the earth
will no longer be suitable for human habitation.
Fact: This is completely false. According
to one scientist (quoted in John McPee's The Curve of Binding Energy)
"The largest bomb that has ever been exploded anywhere was 60 megatons,
and that is one-thousandth the force of an earthquake, one-thousandth the
force of a hurricane. We have lived with earthquakes and hurricanes for
a long time." Another scientist adds, "It is often assumed
that a full blown nuclear war would be the end of life on earth. That is
far from the truth. To end life on earth would take at least a thousand
times the total yield of all the nuclear explosives existing in the world,
and probably a lot more." Even if humans succumbed, many forms of life
would survive a nuclear free-for-all, cockroaches, certain forms of bacteria,
and lichens, for instance.
Myth: Radiation is bad for you.
Fact: Everything is bad for you if you
have too much of it. If you eat too many bananas you'll get a stomach-ache.
If you get too much sun you can get sunburned (or even skin cancer). Same
thing with radiation. Too much may make you feel under the weather, but
nuclear industry officials insist that there is no evidence that low-level
radiation has any really serious adverse effects. And, high-level radiation
may bring unexpected benefits. It speeds up evolution by weeding out unwanted
genetic types and creating new ones. (Remember the old saying, "Two heads
are better than one.") Nearer to home, it's plain that radiation will get
rid of pesky crab grass and weeds, and teenagers will find that brief exposure
to a nuclear burst vaporizes acne and other skin blemishes. (Many survivors
of the Hiroshima bomb found that they were free from skin and it's attendant
problems forever.)
We hope this clears up any misconceptions you may have had. Enjoy your
H-Bomb! |
I made mine out of sticky back plastic and some toilet roll...what about you...?
Back to articles...
|